Chapter BY Chapter

Matthew 1:1-25

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The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

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Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

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And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

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And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

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So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

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Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.  But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

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“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”

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(which means, God with us).  When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”

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Now, this is the genealogy of Jesus as handed down to him from Joseph.  Some people will point out a problem with this genealogy.  The problem is that Jechoniah is in Jesus’ genealogy.  Jeremiah 22:30 says of Jechoniah,

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“Thus says the Lord:

“Write this man down as childless,

    a man who shall not succeed in his days,

for none of his offspring shall succeed

    in sitting on the throne of David

    and ruling again in Judah.”

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How can Jesus claim the throne of David if God said that none of Jechoniah’s offspring will sit on the throne of David?

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Read the verse again.  There is a limitation.  The limitation is “in his days.”  Though the Hebrew literally reads, “Record this man AS childless,”

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Jeconiah in fact had children, but the effect was as though he was childless as far as the throne goes.  “The descendants of Jehoiachin the captive: Shealtiel his son, Malkiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama and Nedabiah.” 1 Chronicles 3:17-18. 

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He did prosper in his day.  “In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin from prison on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honour higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.”  2 Kings 25:27-28.  His grandson Zerubbabel prospered and ruled.

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In fact the same words God used in rejecting Jeconiah were deliberately used in establishing Zerubbabel.  “‘On that day,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”  Haggai 2:23.  Though Zerubbabel did not sit on the throne as king, the fact that Haggai 2:23 uses the same terminology as Jeremiah 22:24 shows that Haggai intended to indicate a reversal of the curse (https://jewsforjesus.org/answers/the-problem-of-the-curse-on-jeconiah-in-relation-to-the-genealogy-of-jesus-issues-prophecy/).

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Now this passage starts out, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”  People today might think that this is saying that all that is going to be in this book is a genealogy.  To the Jewish mind of the time, starting of saying that Jesus is the son of David, the son of Abraham, and saying here is the genealogy, is like saying that here is my thesis: Jesus is the Messiah, and here is the proof.  Of course, when talking to the Jews, the first thing you would have to prove is that Jesus is a descendant of David.  The Jews were into well-kept genealogies, and they still are today.  So here is the first proof that Jesus is the Messiah.  We have his complete lineage, all the way back to Abraham.  Now, it mentions that “all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.”  It does not mention any special significance to this except that it is coincidental.  It may also be using this to help memory, so you can count the generations and be sure if you got them all. 

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So, next, Matthew moves on to the next proof that Jesus is the Messiah, and what proof is that?

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Mary, having been pledged to Joseph, before they came together was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  Joseph plans on divorcing her quietly, but an angel appears to him in a dream and tells him that the child is conceived from the Holy Spirit.  This was to fulfill what?

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Prophesy!  BOOM!  MIC DROP!!!

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Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

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But wait!  The angel tells Joseph to call his name “Jesus.”  Is there a disqualifying discrepancy here?

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Matthew is not saying what you think he is saying. He does not say "he was named this to fulfill the prophet" but rather "all this took place" to fulfill the prophet:

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1. Virgin conceives

2. Child is born

3. Angel tells them to name him Jesus.

4. He IS Immanuel.In Hebrew tradition, a name is not just what your official label is, but it is what you are.

 

For the rest of the gospel, Mathew will not only prove that Jesus is the Messiah, but that he is God With Us.

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But why didn’t the angel go ahead and tell them to name the child Immanuel?

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The angel tells them to name the child Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

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“But He was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the guilt and sins of us all. From prison and trial they led Him away to His death. But who among the people realized that He was dying for their sins – that He was suffering their punishment? I will give Him the honors of One who is mighty and great, because He exposed Himself to death. He was counted among those who were sinners. He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners.” (Isaiah 53:5-6, 8, 12)

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Isaiah 44:22, “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

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Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

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Job 19:25, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.”

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Isaiah 57:17-19, “Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.  I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips.”

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Ezekiel 36:25-27, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my just decrees.”

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Zechariah 12:10, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

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Psalm 130:7-8, “O Israel, hope in the Lord!  For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.  And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”

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Song: What a Beautiful Name by Hillsong